Rider-operated spring-mounted jumping toy



June 27, 1967 J. R. WILLIAMS I RIDER-OPERATED SPRING-MOUNTED JUMPING TOY2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Aug. 8, 1963 INVENTOR \JAMES R. WILLIAMSBY June 27, 1967 R, WILUAMS 3,328,028

RIDER-OPERATED SPRING-MOUNTEDJUMPING TOY Original Filed Aug. 8, 1965 I I2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR JAMES R.\\/ILL\AM3 United States Patent3,328,028 RIDER-OPERATED SPRING-MOUNTED JUMPING TOY James R. Williams,Camp Hill, Pa., assignor to Williams Industries, Incorporated,Harrisburg, Pa.

Continuation of application Ser. No. 300,741, Aug. 8,

1963. This application Mar. 11, 1966, Ser. No. 540,787

8 Claims. (Cl. 272-57) This application is a continuation of applicationSer. No. 300,471, filed Aug. 8, 1963, now abandoned.

This invention relates to spring supported riding or hopping toys.

The object of the invention is to provide stability in a Pogo-stick typeof exercising toy having flexibly resilient legs to promote a highrebound force for jumping upwardv ly off the ground and moving in anydirection desired.

A further object is to extend a plurality of resilient legs from thebody portion outwardly in different directions and bent over downwardlyto foot ends correspondingly spread apart to provide a stablearrangement of ground supports for the body portion and the ridermounted thereon.

A further object is to extend a plurality of resilient legs from thebody portion in upwardly outward directions before curving downwardlywhile continuing to spread apart to foot ends correspondingly spread outto provide a stable toy with a low center of gravity.

A further object is to provide a substantially rectangular body portionfor this toy with a series of oppositely extending legs from the sidesof the body.

A further object is to provide friction reducing means in the foot endsof the resilient legs to reduce the friction with the ground.

A further object is to mount all the foot ends rigidly to a common footsupport, causing the mid-portions of the legs to bulge outwardly whenthe body portion is pressed downwardly toward the ground.

A further object is to mount a foot support with straps on the bodyportion for single foot mounting.

A further object is to extend an upright shaft from the body portionhaving a foot rest near the lower end of the shaft for both feetstraddling the shaft, and a hand grip at the upper end.

Other and more specific objects will become apparent in the followingdetailed description of some preferred forms of the invention asillustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred form of toy made inaccordance with the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view thereof showing a tubular shaftstructure,

FIG. 3 illustrates a friction reducing bearing that might beincorporated in the foot end of each resilient leg to facilitatemovement of the foot ends on the ground during flexure of the legs,

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 show successive postures assumed by the rider in theprocess of exercising thereon,

FIG. 7 illustrates a modified form of this toy, having a rectangularbody portion,

FIG. 8 is another form of this toy adapted for use on one foot of therider, and

FIG. 9 is a modified form of the flexibly resilient legs having a commonbase rigidly fixing all the foot ends together.

This invention is unique in that anyone can ride the toy and balancethemselves without any special talent or skill.

It is also unique in that the resilient legs can be arched or adjustedto give forward motion if desired.

The form illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises the central body portion 10having flexibly resilient legs 12 arched 3,328,028 Patented June 27,1967 outwardly and upwardly in different radial directions to the shaftat a height to clear the flexing leg arches when the toy is in use. Thegrip 1'8 and foot rest 20 may be made separately and fixed to the shaft,or they may be made in one piece with the shaft, as shown.

While the resilient legs may be made of spring steel, the shaft with itshand grip and foot rest could be made of a suitably light plasticmaterial, so that the whole toy would weight very little.

The rider can easily mount this toy by. gripping the hand grip with oneor both hands and stepping up on the foot rest, placing one foot on eachside of the shaft. The legs would flex in a certain amount inaccordancewith the weight of the rider, spreading their foot ends toprovide even, more stability.

The rider may now exercise by simply jumping straight up and down, or,by shifting his body to one side in any direction, he may hop in thatdirection. As illustrated in FIGS. 4, 5 and -6, he may move forward byshifting his body forwardly during each jump, starting by bending hisknees as in FIGS. 4 and 5, so that the momentum of his body flexes theresilient legs outwardly, and then raising his body quickly on therebound so as to cause the upward momentum of his body to lift the toywith its legs off the ground in a forward hop, and repeating this cycleof operations to continue travelling in any direction in which he maydesire, by correspondingly shifting his body in that direction duringthe rebound.

The modification shown in FIG. 7 has a rectangular body portion 22 andflexibly resilient legs 24 extending outwardly from the opposite sidesof the body portion, the foot ends 26 being spread along widely separatelines on each side of the body portion and providing a wide supportbase, which gives great stability to the toy and distributes the weightamong the several foot ends. The body portion may thus sustain a largeloading consisting of more than one rider sitting or standing tandem onthe body portion, the leading rider steadying himself by holding to thehand bar 28 at the top of a post 30 fixed to the front end of the bodyportion.

This toy may be made for use on one foot as shown in FIG. 8, where thebody portion 32 has a plurality of radially extending flexibly resilientlegs 34 and a central post 36 topped by a foot support 38 with straps40. This enables a rider to hop on one foot, or if he uses two of thesetoys, he can use them simultaneously or alternately to hop from one footto the other.

As shown in FIG. 9, the foot ends 42 of all the legs 44 in any of thesetoys may be fixed together on a common base plate 46, so that nofriction is obtained with the ground during the hops.

FIG. 3 shows a way of reducing such friction with the ground byproviding a frictionless bearing 48 in the foot end 50 of each resilientleg 52.

It is to be understood that spring steel is not the only material thatmay be used for the resilient legs, as there are other metallic andnon-metallic materials now available with suitable resilient propertieswith much lower densities than steel.

The resilient legs may be made integral with the body portion, bystamping form spring sheet material and forming to provide suitablearches, and the legs may be tapered outwardly from the middle of thearch in both directions, i.e. toward their bases and outer ends as inFIG. 9; or they may be widest at the base and be tapered all the waythese toys may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention.

What is claimed is: 1. A toy vehicle comprising a planar metal plateform- 'ing a base, at least three leaf springs for resilientlysupporting the base on a support surface, and means on the base foraiding a rider to stay on the vehicle during operation, each of saidsprings comprising a short leg integrally secured at one end to theplate and extending in one direction laterally of the plane of the base,and a long leg secured-to the short leg extending in an opposite lateraldirection beyond the plane of the base.

2. A vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein the base is circular and thesprings are equally spaced around the circumference.

3. A vehicle as defined'in claim 1 wherein the base is rectangular andthe legs are equally spaced along opposite edges of the base.

4. A vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein the springs are tapered fromthe base to the ends.

5. A vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein the free ends of the springsare curved to present a convex surface to the support surface.

6. A vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein the free ends of the springsare provided with a concave socket and a ball is retained in the socketfor rolling engagement with the support surface.

7. A vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein the means on the base foraiding the rider comprises a post and a handle secured to the post onone end thereof.

8. A vehicle as defined in claim 7 further including a foot rest securedto the post between the base and handle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 337,146 3/1886 Gluecksmann.1,617,665 2/ 1927 Cashoty. 2,727,744 12/ 1955 Watson 273-128 RICHARD C.PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

L. J. BOVASSO, Assistant Examiner.

1. A TOY VEHICLE COMPRISING A PLANAR METAL PLATE FORMING A BASE, ATLEAST THREE LEAF SPRINGS FOR RESILIENTLY SUPPORTING THE BASE ON ASUPPORT SURFACE, AND MEANS ON THE BASE FOR AIDING A RIDER TO STAY ON THEVEHICLE DURING OPERATION, EACH OF SAID SPRINGS COMPRISING A SHORT LEGINTEGRALLY SECURED AT ONE END TO THE PLATE AND EXTENDING IN ONEDIRECTION LATERALLY OF THE PLANE OF THE BASE, AND A LONG LEG SECURED TOTHE SHORT LEG EXTENDING IN AN OPPOSITE LATERAL DIRECTION BEYOND THEPLANE OF THE BASE.